Drumsticks



p 1964 A. s. ROBBA ETAL 3,146,659

DRUMSTICKS Filed May 24, 1961 INVENTORS ALBERT 6. ROBE/1 WILL/AM J: BUSHOK ,JR.

THE /R A TTOR/VE) United States Patent 7" Filed May 24, 1961, Ser. No. 112,251 7 Claims. (til. 84-422) This invention relates to drumsticks and more particularly to drumsticks adapted to be manipulated so as to strike the various tonal elements of a conventional set of drums, such as snare drums, tom-toms, bongos, timbales, parade drums, cymbals, cowbells, and wood blocks.

Conventional wooden drumsticks known to the prior art have long suffered from a relatively short useful life due to chipping, warping and splintering. Efforts to develop drumsticks of greater durability have been unable to achieve the proper combination of balance, weight, stiffness and resiliency that yields tonal quality and maneuverability comparable to wooden drumsticks. Along with the durability problem, however, conven tional wooden drumsticks are further deficient in that tonal quality is lacking when used in striking higher frequency tonal elements.

These and many other problems known to the prior art are overcome by the present invention which may be generally characterized as a drumstick of highly durable construction having its dominant length formed of a hollow metal tube serving as a resonant handle to one end of which is secured a striking head of tough, resilient plastic. While weight is comparable to conventional wooden drumsticks, the center of gravity or balance point of the drumstick of the present invention is forward of the longitudinal center thereof rather than rearward (normally one-third of the length from the back end) as with conventional wooden drumsticks.

Hollow handled sticks and hammers may be found to a limited extent in the prior 'art, but these have been designed for use primarily in connection with percussion instruments other than a conventional set of drums, such as for striking metal or wooden bars. The purpose of the handles of such sticks and hammers has been to increase flexibility, or to provide a chamber for selectably positionable weights.

One of the objects of this invention, therefore, is to provide a new and improved drumstick having its dominant length hollow so as to produce resonant tonal effects that enhance the quality and range of tones generated.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved drumstick which is capable of producing tonal effects that have never before been achieved when used in connection with higher frequency percussion elements such as cymbals and cowbells.

A further object of this invention is to provide a new and improved drumstick in which the weight, balance, stiffness, and resiliency are such as to result in a degree of maneuverability exceeding that which was obtainable in the prior art.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved drumstick that is non-warping, and non-splintering, and yet will not damage the percussion element on which it is used.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved drumstick in which the center of gravity is forward of the longitudinal center thereof.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a new and improved drumstick which, although highly durable, is simple in construction and readily lends itself to the demands of economic manufacture.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from consideration of the following specification, taken in conjunction with the accompanying 3,l4 fi,fi59 Patented Sept. 1, 1964 drawings, in which like designators refer to the same or similar parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 'lis a perspective view of a drumstick according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation view, partly broken away, of a drumstick according to the invention.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows the drumstick of the present invention as having an elongate handle 11, a striking head 12, and an end cap 13.

The handle 11 is formed of strong lightweight metal, such as aluminum, being tubular in construction so as to define an interior chamber or bore that extends the entire length thereof, as detailed in FIG. 2. Striking head 12 is of a solid plastic, tapering forwardly at 15 to a reduced diameter and terminating in an enlarged tip, as at 16. The rearward end of striking head 12 is formed with a reduced neck 17 that is press fitted into the bore of handle 11 so that the shoulder 18 abuts the forward end thereof. The neck 17 may be formed with a central bore, as at 20, to reduce weight and to provide a slight adjustment of the center of gravity. For best balance, the center of gravity of the drumstick of the present invention should be slightly forward of the longitudinal center thereof.

End cap 13 is formed with a rearwardly increasing taper, as at 21, defining an annular ridge 22 that serves to prevent the drumstick from slipping from the users hand. The inner diameter of end cap 13 corresponds with the outer diameter of handle 11 in such way that the cap is securely held onto the end of the handle. End cap 13 is further formed with an annular lip 23 extending radially inwardly to substantially the inside wall of handle 11, thereby defining aperture 25. In practice, the drumstick is often manipulated so as to strike the rearward end of handle 11 against a tonal element to obtain a variation in response. It would be suitable, therefore, that end cap 13 be formed of the same material as striking head 12.

For best results", the plastic chosen for the striking head should have high stiffness and resilience characteristics, as well as high strength, density, toughness and fatigue resistance. In that form of the invention actually reduced to practice, acetal resin commercially available as Delrin. (trademark of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc.) was utilized. This plastic is described in Modern Plastics Encyclopedia issue for 1961, September 1960, vol. 38, No. 1A.

The handle of the drumstick of the present invention should be strong, lightweight metal of relatively thinwall tubular construction. In that form of the invention actually reduced to practice, 2024T aluminum tubing .5 inch CD. by .035 inch was utilized. It was found that an increase in the wall thickness to .065 inch resulted in a reduction in the quality and range of the resonant tonal effects. It is noteworthy that an additional advantage results from the use of aluminum for handle 11 in that the softness of the metal prevents damage to the rims of drums or other tonal elements should it be struck thereagainst.

Resonance is produced by an air column vibrating in its natural frequency. In considering a closed pipe or tube as with the present invention, resonance will be obtained from a tube having a length equal to A, A, etc., of the wave length of its natural resonant frequency. The length of the closed tube of the present invention is approximately 11 inches which is equivalent to a quarter- Wave length of a natural resonant frequency of about 300 cycles per second. As a result of the resonance effect of the hollow handle of the drumstick of the present invention, tones of true fidelity and fullness are obtained by reinforcement of sounds emitted by a drum or other tonal element. This resonance effect is particularly noticeable when the drumstick is struck on higher frequency types of tonal elements, such as cymbals, thereby extending the range of tones of true fidelity and fullness beyond that which can be obtained with conventional drumsticks known to the prior art.

In that form of the invention actually reduced to practice, the overall length was chosen at 15 inches, with the aluminum tubing 12.25 inches, and the plastic head 3.75 inches of which 1.0 inch is press fitted into the forward end of the tube. Striking head 12 tapers forwardly at 3 degrees to a reduced diameter of 0.25 inch, and terminates in an elliptically shaped tip 0.5 inch in length and 0.350 inch in transverse or minor diameter. The weight of the drumstick above described was approximately 39 grams, with the center of gravity approximately 0.5 inch forward of the longitudinal center thereof.

The size of aperture 2.5 in end cap 13 was chosen to provide maximum communication with the bore of handle 11. By experimentation it has been found that decreasing the size of aperture 25 progressively decreases the resonant effects hereinabove described.

From the foregoing it should be apparent that I have provided a new and improved drumstick which is well adapted to fulfill the aforestated objects of the invention. Moreover, whereas the invention has been described in particularity with respect to a preferred embodiment which gives satisfactory results, it will be understood by those skilled in the art to which the invention most nearly appertains that other embodiments and modifications thereof may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A resonant drumstick comprising a rigid hollow tubular handle of lightweight metal forming the dominant length thereof, and a striking head fixedly secured to and closing off one end of said handle, said striking head being formed of tough, resilient, high density plastic, the arrangement being such that the other end of said handle is substantially open to provide for maximum resonance effects.

2. A resonant drumstick comprising a rigid hollow elongate tubular handle of lightweight metal, a striking head fixedly secured to and closing off one end of said handle, said striking head being formed of tough, resilient, high density plastic, and a plastic cap fixedly secured to the other end of said handle, said cap being formed with an annular aperture coaxial with and exposing the interior of said handle.

3. A resonant drumstick comprising a rigid hollow tubular handle forming the dominant length thereof, said handle being formed of lightweight metal, a striking head fixedly secured to and closing off one end of said handle with the other end of said handle being substantially open to provide for maximum resonance effects, said striking head being formed of tough resilient plastic, the arrangement being such that the center of gravity of the wardly in a radially inward manner and terminating in an enlarged striking tip, the balance being such that the center of gravity of the drumstick lies forwardly of the longitudinal center thereof.

5. A resonant drumstick comprising a rigid hollow tubular handle forming the dominant length thereof, said handle being formed of lightweight metal, a striking head fixedly secured to and closing off the forward end of said handle, said striking head being formed of tough resilient plastic forwardly tapering in a radially inward manner and terminating in an enlarged tip, and a plastic cap fixedly secured to the rearward end of said handle, said cap being formed with an annular aperture coaxial with and exposing the interior of said handle, the arrangement being such that the center of gravity of the drumstick lies forwardly of the longitudinal center thereof.'

6. A resonant drumstick comprising a rigid hollow tubular handle forming the dominant length thereof, said handle being formed of lightweight metal, an elongate striking head fixedly secured to and closing 01f one end of said handle, said striking head being formed of stiff resilient plastic, the other end of said handle having a plastic cap defining an aperture coaxial with and exposmg the interior of said handle, the size of said aperture being such as to utilize the resonant tonal effects of the hollow handle.

7. A resonant drumstick comprising a rigid hollow tubular handle forming the dominant length thereof, said handle being formed of lightweight metal, a striking head fixedly secured to and closing off the forward end of said handle, said striking head being formed of stiff resilient.

plastic forwardlytapering in a radially inward manner and terminating in an enlarged tip, and a plastic cap fixedly secured to the rearward end of said handle, said cap being formed with an annular aperture coaxial with and exposing the interior of said handle, the size of said aperture being such as to utilize the resonant tonal elfects of said hollow handle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 807,493 Phillips Dec. 19, 1905 2,853,912 Gladstone Sept. 30, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 64 Germany July 21, 1887 OTHER REFERENCES New Plastic Drumsticks, The Music Trades, page 70,

July 1959. 

1. A RESONANT DRUMSTICK COMPRISING A RIGID HOLLOW TUBULAR HANDLE OF LIGHTWEIGHT METAL FORMING THE DOMINANT LENGTH THEREOF, AND A STRIKING HEAD FIXEDLY SECURED TO AND CLOSING OFF ONE END OF SAID HANDLE, SAID STRIKING HEAD BEING FORMED OF TOUGH, RESILIENT, HIGH DENSITY PLASTIC, THE ARRANGEMENT BEING SUCH THAT THE OTHER END OF SAID HANDLE IS SUBSTANTIALLY OPEN TO PROVIDE FOR MAXIMUM RESONANCE EFFECTS. 